Book picks similar to
Twice Shy by Mona Ingram


romance
contemporary
contemporary-romance
ebook

What Once Was Perfect


Zoe York - 2013
     Heading home always stirs up mixed emotions for Laney Calhoun. Twelve years ago she left for graduate school, broken-hearted. She's found professional success, but positive personal relationships have proved elusive. Running into her ex-boyfriend fans flames she thought long extinguished, and causes a renewed interest in love. Not with Kyle, of course. Never again. But as sparks fly and items of clothing disappear, she scrambles to keep her emotions in check. ...Now he has a second chance to get it right. Kyle Nixon let Laney slip away once. Their chemistry together is undeniable, but steamy sex is not enough to convince her to let him back into her heart. Even if she did trust him again, her career as a paediatric surgeon is five hundred kilometers away from the hometown that he loves, and the life he once chose over her. Come home to Wardham. Come home to love.

Brody's Redemption


Kay Stockham - 2006
    Ex-con. Joe Brody has been called a lot of things. Some true. Some not. But now that he's out of prison and back in his hometown his focus is getting a job and a home for his ill father to convalesce. Easier said than done when no one will hire him. Ashley Cade has a teething toddler and lives with an elderly man as part of an agreement she made to buy his house. Complicated? Not as much as it sounds. Wilson is a dear and his huge Victorian a gem in the rough. The lonely old man even recommends a friend's son as a handyman to help with the repairs and finally Ashley is making progress. And Joe? Joe is... intriguing to say the least. But when the police chief tracks Joe down and Ashley discovers the truth, everything changes. Wilson swears Joe is innocent. Joe swears he's innocent. But the evidence says otherwise and she doesn't know who to believe when her future business--and her child's life--are at stake....

When You Got a Good Thing


Kait Nolan - 2017
    It  has everything I love in a small-town romance!  ~USA Today Best-Selling Author Tawna FenskeA moment. A mistake. That's all it took for Kennedy Reynolds to lose her first love and her family. She's spent a decade traveling the world, building a life, hiding the truth, never looking back at the past--until her adopted mother's unexpected death pulls her back to the small town--and the secret--she left behind.A chance to apologize. That's all Xander Kincaid wants from the woman who ran away with his heart all those years ago. At least that's what he tells himself until he sees her again and that old flame flares bright. As she struggles to mend fences with her sisters and find a way to save the legacy and the foster child her mother left behind, Kennedy finds an expected ally in Xander. Falling back into his arms is beyond tempting,  but accepting his support is dangerous. He can never know the truth about why she really left. Will Kennedy be able to bury the past or will secrets revealed destroy her second chance?

Hidden Hollywood


Kylie Gilmore - 2016
    Get your happy ending!HIDDEN HOLLYWOOD (Book #1, Happy Endings Book Club)She’s on top…When superstar actress Claire Jordan researched her role for the Fierce Trilogy movies, she never expected the bond she feels with the author and her romance book club aka The Happy Endings Book Club. Soon Claire finds herself confessing her secret longing for a regular guy—no more egocentric wealthy players—and the book club is all too ready to help. In disguise as a regular girl, she’s all set for a date with book-club-approved Josh Campbell.He’s on top…Billionaire tech CEO Jake Campbell is weary of gold-digging women, especially the glamorous superficial types. So when his identical twin Josh calls in a favor asking Jake to step in as him on a date, Jake figures one of Josh’s cute girl-next-door types might be just what he needs. One night of passion with the sweet girl-next-door leaves Jake wanting more, except she seems to have vanished.Sometimes a Happy Ending is just the beginning.

Sweet Reunion


Melanie Shawn - 2012
    It makes her miss the simplicity of being a teenager, when she was surrounded by her amazing friends, The Fabulous Four, and she was madly in love with her Dad's right hand man, Justin Barnes. His sexy smiles and deep brown eyes had made her heart race in a way she's never felt before or since. When the Fabulous Four unexpectedly show up on her doorstep to support her through this complicated time, things seem to be looking up for Amanda. But that's not the only surprise visit in store for her...Justin Barnes left Hope Falls ten years ago, in the dead of night, and didn't think he'd ever set foot there again. That was just fine with him, except for one little complication: Amanda Jacobs. He had fallen in love with her unruly blonde curls and sparkling sapphire eyes, but she had been a teenager then, five years younger than he - too young for him to act on his attraction. Still, he'd missed her every single day of those ten years. When Justin receives a phone call that his former mentor has passed away, he knows he has to return to Hope Falls. Justin just has one question - will the girl that once adored him have grown into a woman that can't stand him? Or will she still be the only thing in the world that feels like home?

Blissed


Jamie Farrell - 2014
    But it’s redemption time, and she’s putting on her big girl panties to make sure this year’s bridal festival goes off without a hitch. Even if it means she has to play nice with the man who broke her fairy tale.She’s definitely not the one for him. Or is she...World adventurer and reluctant local hero CJ Blue doesn’t want to be in Bliss anymore than Natalie wants him here. But family obligations have brought him back, and now he’s somehow been roped into saving the town tradition he’d rather forget with the woman whose kiss he can’t forget. She frustrates him and drives him nuts but he's had more fun giving her a hard time about the bridal festival than he has in years.And their fun is just starting...Despite their rocky past, these two wounded souls have more in common than they expect. They’ve both loved and lost, they’ve both tried to move on, and now they’ve both been been banned from the local church confessional after...well, they’re not supposed to talk about it. But by joining forces for the sake of Bliss, they might find the courage and the sparks to risk love one more time.Note: BLISSED was previously published for like 5 minutes many years ago as THE HUSBAND GAMES. Publishers Weekly called it a "Marvelous romantic comedy" in a starred review and named it as a "Self-Published Star" of 2014.

Love, Chocolate, and Beer


Violet Duke - 2014
    After moving his chocolate shop, and newly single life, to the quirky town of Cactus Creek, Luke wants nothing more than to devote all his energy into making his business a success—by taking the romance market by storm. But his grand plans get thrown for a loop when he locks horns with the feisty beer-brewing beauty next door who calls his ‘romantic idealism’ a load of fairytale bull. Soon, driving the woman sparking nuts becomes another wickedly fun priority he simply can’t get enough of.In his defense, she’s addictively easy to incite…and plain impossible to resist.Beloved local brewmaster Dani Dobson is beyond riled up. It’s bad enough the new shop owner in town comes locked and loaded with both a distractingly rugged charm and sexy flashing dimples, but the whole only-in-the-movies variety of romance he’s selling—the kind her world has been crushed by before—is really doing a number on her allergy to unrealistic clichés. What’s worse, he’s created an annoyingly clever ad campaign that dubs ‘beer joints’ like hers as the “cave where romance goes to hibernate.” The nerve of that man.Combustible chemistry or not, damn it, this means war. The stakes…very likely, her heart.

Mason


S.J. McCoy - 2015
    It seemed they'd found their forever early in life. But somehow it all went wrong. Now — ten years later — Gina's back in town. This time he doesn't intend to let her leave. Mason spent the years he lost with Gina building a business, breeding and training horses, and helping keep his family's ranch going. Gina threw herself into a life in New York City where she has a career as a photographer… and a fiancé. Gina needs to sell the ranch where she grew up and move her dad to New York. When she returns to Paradise Valley to finally close that chapter of her life, the last person she wants to see is the man who broke her heart all those years ago. Mason isn't going to let the only woman he's ever loved walk out of his life forever without explaining what went wrong. He never understood why she left. Now he has one last shot to make her stay. (This book is intended for adult readers aged 18+.) *************************************** Each Remington Ranch Romance can be read as a standalone. No cliffhangers here! Each book contains one couple's story. Book 1: Mason Look out for the other brothers, who will each get their own book: ShaneCarterBeau

The Cowboy's Bride


Donna Alward - 2006
    By marrying Alexis Grayson, he'll be able to access the trust fund his parents left behind...and keep Windover Ranch alive.Alexis isn't sure how she's going to get through the next several months, especially when her baby is born. When Connor lands in her life, he seems heaven-sent, and the temporary solution he offers is both crazy and perfect. A fake marriage to save his ranch and give her the security she needs.But when happens when the wedding doesn't seem so fake after all? Can this bride-for-hire become Connor's wife-for-real?

Seaside Surprises


Stacy Claflin - 2015
    Play often. Love unconditionally. Tiffany Saunders is on the run. When she winds up stranded in a seaside town, she wants nothing more than to forget her horrific past and kept moving. But a chance meeting with a handsome local changes everything. Jake Hunter has some deep emotional scars and is trying to cope with running the family business. The last thing he wants is a relationship—until a mysterious brunette walks into his store and complicates it all. Tiffany prefers to keep the painful memories of the past where they belong—in her rear view mirror. But dark secrets cannot stay hidden forever. Just as the walls around Tiffany’s heart start to come down, the past catches up with her. Will true love be able to conquer all? Seaside Surprises is the first book in the Seaside Hunters collection, a series of sweet contemporary romances featuring the Hunter brothers set in the beach town of Kittle Falls. If you like entertaining and heartwarming romances, then you'll love this entry in a light, romantic series. Budding romance and great chemistry abound with fully-developed characters that you'll fall for over and over again. **While each book in this series is a standalone, you'll also enjoy reading about the other Hunter brothers of Kittle Falls: Seaside Heartbeats: Brayden, the successful cardiologist Seaside Dances: Zachary, the struggling writer Seaside Kisses: Rafael, the disillusioned fashion designer Seaside Christmas: Cruz, the wild tattoo artist

Plain Jayne


Laura Drewry - 2014
      Worn out from the long drive back home, Jayne Morgan can only smirk at the irony: Of course the first person she sees from her old life is Nick Scott. Once best friends, they lost touch when Jayne left town at eighteen, but nothing could keep them apart forever. Jayne has returned to take over her grandmother’s bookstore, determined to put all her bittersweet memories and secret disappointments strictly in the past — until, that is, Nick insists she bunk at his place.   Nick never did care what people thought about having a girl for a best friend — or the “scandal” she caused by showing up to his wife’s funeral four years earlier — so he’s got no problem with the gossips now. Jayne was always the one person he could count on in his life. Now Nick is starting to realize that he never wants her to leave again... and that being “just friends” isn’t going to be enough anymore.  Includes a special message from the editor, as well as an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

Kissed by a Cowboy


Lacy Williams - 2014
    She thinks she’s ready for this homecoming. She’s spent years escaping her perpetual shyness and being Katie Michaels’ tag-along friend, but being back in her hometown brings back a lot of old memories, especially when she is faced with the cowboy she never forgot — Katie’s older brother, Maddox. Twelve years ago, Maddox Michaels was supposed to be somebody. He had everything. A football scholarship. A Division I team scouting him. Maybe even a chance at the pros. Now, he’s a burned-out cowboy working day and night to stay ahead of his brother’s medical bills and keep their family farm from going bankrupt. And trying to be a father-figure for his niece, Olivia. When Haley and Olivia start spending time together, Maddox can’t help remembering those dreams that died alongside his sister. Will being with Haley open his heart to new dreams?

SEAL It With A Kiss


Rogenna Brewer - 1999
    She’s not about to let a little thing like gender get in her way. She’ll use every wile–feminine or otherwise–and her considerable strength of will to win this battle of the sexes. But the limits of her determination are tested by the only Navy SEAL capable of commanding her heart. Commander Marc Miller is equally determined to keep her out of his program. As the newly appointed CO of BUD/S, he’s been tasked with cleaning up SEAL Training. He doesn’t need a red-hot redhead compounding the problem. For him Hell Week begins when one well-connected junior officer walks into his office. The last thing he wants is to be her commanding officer when the only thing he wants is her. The only way to have her––and the surest way to lose her––is to see that she fails. Will love conquer all or tear them apart?

The Wedding Audition


Catherine Mann - 2015
    Eager to escape her notoriety, Annamae takes a road trip to find the grandmother she’s never met and winds up discovering a whole lot more than a band of back woods relatives. There’s no escape from reality TV, even in Beulah, Alabama, population 3000.The last thing Wynn Rafferty needs in his new life is a spoiled television princess who can’t even know his real name. He’s in temporary witness protection as an apple farmer after his undercover work put his life in danger. He needs to lay low until the heat dies down from his last case— even if he sucks at growing apples as badly as he sucks at relationships. But Annamae turns his new town into a media circus, unwittingly threatening the lives of him, her and most of Beulah. Wynn is an expert at keeping the world at arm’s length, but when it comes to Annamae, the only way he can keep her safe is to keep her very, very close.

Worth the Weight


Mara Jacobs - 2012
    A new life. An old flame?Lizzie Hampton is literally a shadow of her former self. Having lost half her body weight, she's headed to her small hometown to test out her new body on an old flame. Just a harmless fling to get her self-confidence back before she returns to the city and the new man in her life.But Lizzie's plan has a few bumps in the road.Finn Robbins can't believe Liz is back in town. Desperate to be the holder of her innocence eighteen years ago, he never got the chance. Now she's back and he can finally check her off his to do list. But her friends, his son, and the mysterious Annie may have something to say about that.